THELAWPAGES.COM

We encourage applications from people from all backgrounds and aim to have a workforce that represents the wider society that we serve. We pride ourselves on being an employer of choice. We champion diversity, inclusion and wellbeing and aim to create a workplace where everyone feels valued and a sense of belonging. To find out more about how we do this visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice/about/equality-and-diversity.

The Prison Policy Directorate is recruiting permanently for two HEO Policy Roles in the Safety, Security and Operational Policy Division. This campaign is being run externally and so is open to all eligible individuals who wish to apply.

Location:

Successful candidates will have the option to be based at one of the following locations:

1. 102 Petty France, London
2. 5 Wellington Place, Leeds (occasional travel between Leeds and London may be required post Covid-19)

Current circumstances require everyone to work from home for all or the majority of the time depending on local restrictions and individual circumstances.

Salary and Grade:

These posts are HEO.  New entrants to the Civil Service will be expected to join on the minimum of the pay range. Existing Civil Servants will have their salary calculated in accordance with the Department’s pay on transfer / pay on promotion rules.

Ways of Working

At the MoJ we believe and promote alternative ways of working, these roles are available as:

• Full-time with flexible working patterns
• Flexible working arrangements between base locations, MoJ Hubs and home.

At the moment the majority of our staff are currently working from home due to Covid-19

If we receive applications from more suitable candidates than we have vacancies for at this time, we may hold suitable applicants on a reserve list for 12 months, and future vacancies requiring the same skills and experience could be offered to candidates on the reserve list without a new competition.

We welcome and encourage applications from everyone, including groups currently underrepresented in our workforce and pride ourselves as being an employer of choice. To find out more about how we champion diversity and inclusion in the workplace, visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice/about/equality-and-diversity

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ)

MOJ is one of the largest government departments, employing around 70,000 people (including those in the Probation Service), with a budget of approximately £9 billion. Each year, millions of people use our services across the UK - including at 500 courts and tribunals, and 133 prisons in England and Wales.

What we do

We work to protect the public and reduce reoffending, and to provide a more effective, transparent and responsive criminal justice system for victims and the public. We are also responsible for the following parts of the justice system:

• courts
• prisons
• probation services

We also work in partnership with other government departments and agencies to reform the criminal justice system, to serve the public and support the victims of crime. We are also responsible for making new laws, strengthening democracy, and safeguarding human rights.

Priorities

• A prison and probation service that reforms offenders
• A modern courts and justice system
• A Global Britain that promotes the rule of law
• A transformed department that is simpler, smarter and more unified

Further information can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice

About the post

• The Prison Policy Directorate sits within the Ministry of Justice and is responsible for advising Ministers on all aspects of prison policy. The Prison Safety, Security and Operational Policy (SSOP) division is a key part of the Directorate and has responsibility for one of the most important social policy issues in Government – setting the policy framework for how the prison system works and ensuring that the safety and security of both staff and prisoners is upheld. We work hand in hand in everything we do with HM Prison Service - one of the biggest delivery organisations in government.
• We are a friendly, enthusiastic and collaborative division with a strong emphasis on ensuring team members feel happy, supported and engaged in their work. We are keen to make a difference, working closely with partners and supporting everyone to play their part to improve prisons and the outcomes for prisoners. We have a strong commitment to personal and career development, helping everyone to grow and fulfil their potential. We welcome and encourage applications from everyone, including groups underrepresented in our workforce and pride ourselves as being an employer of choice.
• The SSOP division is split into four teams:
• Prison Security: ensuring that we are tackling threats to prison security including drugs, organised crime, conveyance and working with intelligence across government to anticipate and counteract emerging threats;
• Prison Safety: focusing on improving safety outcomes for staff and prisoners including reducing self-inflicted deaths, self-harm and violence in prisons;
• Prison Regime: providing policy advice to define what a good prison system should look like and unpicking the blockers and enablers to achieving this; and
• Operational Policy: owning a range of high-profile policy areas that underpin a safe, decent and lawful prison system such as prisoner incentives and adjudications.
• We have two vacancies in the division and are looking for two driven, talented and forward-thinking HEO/Band C’s to join us:
• As a member of the Prison Security Policy Team, the post holder will work on a range of strategies and policies to reduce the crime in prison that disrupts delivery of safe, decent and secure regimes and causes harm in the community. Our priorities for 2021 and onwards include working with HMPPS to deliver on commitments within the Prisons Strategy White Paper such as Ministers’ zero tolerance approach to drugs in prisons and also the government’s 10-year drugs plan to cut crime and save lives.  Other priority policy work includes disrupting illicit communications and abuse of legitimate means of communication; identifying and disrupting criminal networks; and building staff resilience to corruption.
• If joining the Prison Safety Team the post-holder will be part of an outward-looking strategy team that sits within the joint MoJ/HMPPS safety team. Recent successes for the strategy team include achieving ringfenced investment from the 2021 Spending Review and the commitments to prison safety in the recent Prisons Strategy White Paper. The post-holder will join at an exciting time as the team begin to deliver on these public commitments as part of the new programme for prison safety. The team also lead on cross-cutting areas of prison safety policy, including driving forward the policy response to key risk areas such as prisoner-prisoner debt. The postholder will support the G7 and SEO on the debt workstream and take ownership for work on policy governance that the team currently supports.
• Both roles will provide excellent opportunities to work in a fast-paced and high-profile policy environment and collaborate with colleagues in the Prison Policy Directorate, HMPPS, across other government departments including the Department for Health and Social Care and the Home Office, as well as with external stakeholders.
• The successful candidates will be expected to:
• Have the ability to understand complex policy areas quickly.
• Work flexibly and independently, effectively leading their own areas of work with support where appropriate. 
• Develop and build strong partnership working with colleagues in HMPPS and MoJ, as well as external stakeholders. 
• Collect a wide range of sources of data and evidence to inform policy development. 
• Analyse, interpret and present evidence to form sound policy options for wider discussion.
• Effectively organise and prioritise their own policy development work e.g. agree aims, scope, plan and deliver key strands of work and activities. 
• Provide high-quality briefing to senior officials and Ministers, showing excellent oral and written communication skills. 
• Have the ability to work under pressure to tight deadlines. 

Responsibilities will include:

• Collect, analyse, interpret and present evidence to form sound policy proposals and approaches and to identify which activities are likely to have an impact.
• Develop and build strong partnership working with colleagues in both MoJ and HMPPS, both in the centre and operationally to better understand how our policies and approaches will work at an operational and practical level.
• Establish and develop strong working relationships with agencies across the criminal justice system to influence and deliver policies and improvements.
• Drive forward and take ownership of the development and delivery of key strands of work and activities.
• Actively contribute to higher level decision making for business planning, policy and project implementation to progress strategic objectives.
• Identify relevant linkages across the department to ensure a joined-up approach.
• Respond flexibly to competing and complex demands.

Skills and Qualifications

Essential skills:

• Excellent oral and written communication skills;
• Demonstrate confidence and skill to act independently and quickly get to grips with a complex area in order to drive forward work, whilst ensuring colleagues and stakeholders are engaged as appropriate.
• Strong organisational skills and the ability to plan and deliver outcomes according to agreed priorities.
• Ability to make sound judgments and provide well-articulated advice, with experience in using and interpreting data and evidence.
• Strong collaborator with excellent relationship management skills and the ability to interact confidently, communicate complex areas clearly, and build trust with stakeholders both across, and external to, government.

Further to this it would be desirable for the post holder to:

• Experience of working in a policy environment with strong policy development skills.
• An interest in, or knowledge of, prisons or probation
• Operational experience in the justice system
• Have an understanding of the governmental and parliamentary processes
• Experience with using project management approaches.
• Experience of line management of staff and/or matrix management to achieve timely delivery.

Application process

You will be assessed against the Civil service success profiles framework

Experience

As part of the application process you will be asked to provide both a CV and a Statement of Suitability of no more than 250 words which should highlight how you meet the essential and desirable criteri

 

Behaviours

Your application will also be assessed against the following behaviours:

 

• Seeing the big picture

We want candidates with the ability to bring together views and perspectives of a range of partners and stakeholders to gain a wider picture of the landscape surrounding the policy area and an understanding of how their role supports MoJ wider HMG objectives.

 

• Making effective decisions

We are looking for candidates who are able to confidently use evidence and knowledge to support accurate, expert decisions and advice. They should be able to carefully consider alternative options, implications and risks of decisions.

 

• Working together

We want candidates who can establish effective relationships and collaborate with other departments and external stakeholders to support the delivery of cross-departmental objectives. Who will be capable and confident in engaging with senior managers.

 

• Delivering at pace

We are looking for candidates who are able to take responsibility for the delegated work areas to deliver the expected outcomes on time and to a high standard; to be able to plan ahead as well as reprioritise at short notice. 

 

Please also refer to the CS Behaviours framework for more details at this grade (Level 3 – SEO and HEO or equivalent):

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/717275/CS_Behaviours_2018.pdf

 

Should we receive a large number of applications, we will sift primarily on the lead behaviour of Seeing the Big Picture. Successful applicants will then be invited to an interview, testing both behaviours and strengths.

 

Candidates invited to Interview

Interviews will be carried out remotely. During the interview, we will be assessing you on Behaviours and Strengths from the success Profiles framework.

 

Interviews are expected to take place in February 2022.

 

The MoJ is proud to be Level 3 Disability Confident. Disability Confident is the approach through which we offer guaranteed interviews for all people with disabilities meeting the minimum criteria for the advertised role as set out in the job description.

 

Contact information  

Please do get in touch if you would like to know more about the role or what it is like working in our team please contact:

Security: Anish Patel (Anish.Patel@Justice.gov.uk)

Safety: Phoebe Potter (Phoebe.Potter@justice.gov.uk)